(This is The Best Stocks in the Market , brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Josh — With an enterprise value of over $80 billion, a portfolio of more than 2,000 communities across America comprised of 102,000 units, Welltower (WELL) is the Nvidia of senior living real estate. WELL will do $10 billion in revenue and return almost $2 billion of that in the form of dividend distributions to shareholders this year. The company is growing its business, growing its profitability and growing its quarterly payouts faster than most REITs. This goes a long way to explaining why it’s been on our list of the Best Stocks in the Market all year. Welltower started out back in 1970 with the uninspiring corporate name “Health Care Fund” LOL. They converted to a REIT a year later and, over the decades, built a reputation as the most sophisticated consolidator in senior housing and medical real estate. What really set the company apart, though, was its decision to move away from old-school nursing homes and focus instead on private-pay senior housing. These are fancier independent and assisted living communities designed for choice and lifestyle, not just care. That shift, made gradually through the 2000s and 2010s, put Welltower right in the middle of one of the biggest demographic tailwinds in history: tens of millions of baby boomers aging into the need for higher-end, amenity-driven senior living. Ventas (VTR) , its smaller competitor, is one of the best run companies in the entire U.S. stock market. In 1999, when current CEO Debra Cafaro first took the reins, VTR was a tiny $200 million company, struggling to earn the confidence and attention of investors. Today, VTR is a $50 billion enterprise with over $30 billion in underlying real estate value divided between medical office buildings and its Senior Housing Operating Portfolio (or SHOP). Despite the fact that she has been able to 10x the company’s market cap in twenty years, delivering total returns north of 1,600%, Cafaro seems to be as bullish as ever on the industry’s future. And she probably should be. The fastest growing population cohort in the United States is the over 80 crowd. These are the customers for the senior living facilities owned and operated by both WELL and VTR. On the medical office side, every day another 10,000 Boomers turn age 65 and become Medicare eligible. As Cafaro likes to point out, “No election is going to change that.” These are defensive businesses with a built-in customer base that is rapidly expanding with every passing day. But they are also growth companies with fuller occupancies helping them expand margin while acquisition opportunities enable them to fuel higher payout growth to shareholders in the future. Dividends are not the main event here, unlike with most REIT investments. Revenue growth leading to increased distributions as far as the eye can see is why investors can’t seem to get enough. Sean is going to cook on the fundamentals. I will be back to look at some charts… Best Stock Spotlight: Ventas, Inc. (VTR) & Welltower, Inc. (WELL) On the list since: VTR: 8/4/2025 & WELL N/A (since we started the list). Sean — These two stocks have seen incredible strength relative to their industry. Cherry-pick the dates however you want; these two are near the top consistently. Over the last month, VTR is the best performing real estate stock up 7.4% in total return. WELL is 4th up 5.3%. YTD WELL is up 48% in total returns, while VTR is up 30%. One and two in performance for a sector that is up 3% this year. You’ll see the same outcome looking at performance the past year. WELL up 41% and VTR up 20%, again one and two in the sector. Both of these firms have a focus on senior housing. VTR noted the favorable tailwinds for this type of housing in the coming years in their recent earnings report. Management noted the 80+ population is expected to grow 28% over the next five years, while senior housing supply remains at record lows with just over 1,200 units started in Q3 2025. There are housing issues everywhere you look and both VTR and WELL are getting aggressive when it comes to the development of these properties. The senior housing segment at VTR, which represents roughly half of its net operating income, delivered 16% year-over-year growth in the most recent report. The company is targeting $2.5 billion in housing investment volume for 2025, to be funded entirely with equity rather than debt, and is aiming for mid-teen internal rates of return on these projects. These are REITs – they pay at least 90% of taxable income to shareholders as dividends. VTR pays a 2.56% dividend while WELL pays a 1.61% dividend, neither of which is very impressive. In fact, WELL’s dividend is the lowest for the sector, while VTR is 4th lowest. So what’s going on here? Both companies are in strong growth mode. Welltower reported $2.69 billion in revenue for the third quarter, bringing year-to-date revenue to $7.6 billion. So far in 2025, the company has completed $23.2 billion in transaction activity — $14 billion in acquisitions and $9 billion in asset sales. Funds from operations (FFO) for the quarter rose 20.7% year over year, while same-store net operating income (NOI) in the senior housing operating portfolio grew 20.3%, marking the 12th consecutive quarter of 20%+ NOI growth. This performance is beginning to translate into shareholder returns, as Welltower raised its dividend by 10.4% from the previous quarter. Both of these companies have strong balance sheets too. WELL is doing all of this without over-leveraging on high-cost debt. WELL has a record-low 2.36 net debt to EBITDA. The company has reduced leverage by approximately 58% from 2019 levels and 76% from 2015 levels. Ventas, in its latest quarter, saw a significant deleveraging going from net debt to EBITDA of 6.3x down to 5.3x in Q3 2025. These companies are in all-out growth mode, taking market share during what has been a chaotic environment for real estate. (data via Quartr) Risk management Josh — Did you miss your chance in Ventas? Not really. The stock has recently broken out of about six month’s worth of consolidation, but it will most likely give you a chance within the next few weeks. The company’s recent earnings report created a lot of excitement given the raised guidance, but patience could pay off here. Look for a revisit of that rising 50-day level somewhere in the low-70s if you have the inclination to time your entry perfectly. For everyone else, I think you can buy on the next red day and remember that a lot of the total return here is going to come from the dividends. Which means this should be thought of as an investment, not a trade. Welltower’s set-up is similar. This is one of the most pristine uptrends you will find in the entire REIT sector which makes sense when you consider how pristine the company’s growth profile has been. One of the most satisfying aspects of investing in a demography story is in the way these stories can play out in such a linear fashion. The aging of the US, Canadian and UK population is literally happening on a predetermined timetable that won’t be disrupted – all these companies have to do is execute. Welltower is doing precisely that, hence the accumulation all year. WELL looks a little extended here with a 69 RSI and several consecutive days of higher closes. I would wait for some profit taking and a pullback into the mid-170’s – but keep this ticker high up on your quote screen so you don’t miss the chance if we get it. DISCLOSURES: (None) All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL’S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. INVESTING INVOLVES RISK. EXAMPLES OF ANALYSIS CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE ONLY EXAMPLES. THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE CONTRIBUTORS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OFFICIAL POLICY OR POSITION OF RITHOLTZ WEALTH MANAGEMENT, LLC. JOSH BROWN IS THE CEO OF RITHOLTZ WEALTH MANAGEMENT AND MAY MAINTAIN A SECURITY POSITION IN THE SECURITIES DISCUSSED. ASSUMPTIONS MADE WITHIN THE ANALYSIS ARE NOT REFLECTIVE OF THE POSITION OF RITHOLTZ WEALTH MANAGEMENT, LLC” TO THE END OF OR OUR DISCLOSURE. Click here for the full disclaimer.
